Jacob Rees-Mogg has threatened to tighten down on ‘flexitime’ working arrangements that enable public officials to work five hours less than the weekly average, frequently remotely and with full-time pay.
The government efficiency minister urged a Whitehall-wide review of the arrangement, which he argued wastes public money. Flexitime permits government workers to determine their own start and finish times, as long as they work core hours in the middle of the day and 37.5 hours each week, and gives them extra compensation.
Eurostat reports that the average UK workweek is 42.5 hours.
OECD has previously questioned the estimates, noting that nations utilizing the ‘direct’ method of collecting data – taking the numbers given by employees – overestimate hours worked.
OECD says it’s not the greatest way to compare nations’ working hours.
Some employees claim the method improves their work-life balance.
MPs said flextime staff shirk duties, resulting in ‘poor end products’ for government service users.
Rees-Mogg claimed Whitehall has a “culture of wastefulness” that woke indoctrination aims to “pit individuals against one other or speak down the country.”
Over 35 hours a week is considered full-time. Rees-Mogg told The Telegraph that working with others would increase public employees’ job happiness.
I’ve asked the Cabinet Office and secretaries of state to report on flextime in their departments.
‘I deal with some good cost-conscious federal officials, but I see pervasive wastefulness,’ he told The Sun.
Whitehall doesn’t prioritize efficiency. As minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency, I quickly saw how terribly money can be squandered.
“Unfortunately, it’s not just the fact that money is wasted that hurts our country; it’s also what that money is spent on. More and more, it’s being spent on divisive “woke” agendas that try to turn people against each other or put the country down.”
Philip Davies, a Conservative MP, said that flextime work was to blame for backlogs in key government departments.
He said, “Whether it’s passports, driving licenses, or visas, the whole thing has been pretty bad. We can’t have these kinds of working methods when the end product is so bad and so many people depend on it.”
The Cabinet Office said, “Even though most civil servants don’t have flexible work schedules, these kinds of agreements allow the Civil Service to hire a wide range of talented and skilled people who may have disabilities or caring responsibilities.”
“These plans are always approved through a strict process.”
The Daily Mail recently reported that hundreds of civil servants will never have to go back to work again because they will be able to work from home permanently.
Rees-Mogg told The Telegraph yesterday, “Working with others is good for everyone and will make civil servants happier at work.”
Therefore, I am requesting that the Cabinet Office report on the scope of flextime and that secretaries of state do the same in their respective departments.
In addition, he told The Sun, “I deal with some brilliant, cost-conscious public officials, but I see pervasive evidence of a wasteful culture.”
“Whitehall has not sufficiently prioritized efficiency.” As soon as I assumed my position as minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency at the start of the year, I saw just how poorly money can be spent.
Unfortunately, it is not simply the fact that money is squandered, but what it is wasted on, that is so destructive to our country: this increasingly entails divisive woke agendas aimed to divide people against one other or denigrate the nation.
Philip Davies, a member of the Conservative Party, talked of backlogs in important government ministries and blamed flextime labor.
‘Whether it’s passports, driver’s licenses, or visas, the entire thing has been quite awful… we cannot have these types of working procedures when the final result for so many people who depend on them is so poor,’ he added.
The Cabinet Office said, “While the great majority of civil employees do not have flextime working arrangements, such options enable the Civil Service to recruit a variety of skilled and competent individuals with impairments or caring obligations.”
These agreements are usually subject to stringent approval procedures.
It was recently disclosed by the Daily Mail that hundreds of public officials would never have to return to the workplace again since they are permitted to work from home forever.
Rees-Mogg has spearheaded the campaign against WFH by putting notes on unoccupied Whitehall desks and lobbying politicians to order public workers to return to work.
According to the Cabinet Office, most government officials work in offices. Those who want to work from home continuously must submit a request to their line manager to modify their contract, which will be accepted under certain circumstances.
Personnel who must do tasks such as managing sensitive papers cannot work continuously from home, for example.
Those who are permitted to work from home on a contractual basis must complete a six-month trial period and have a dedicated space for their workplace.
Flextime working arrangements and WFH contracts, which gained popularity during the Covid-19 outbreak, have been implicated by some as the causes of significant backlogs, since the number of passports lost by the Home Office almost quadrupled in the last year.
Between January 1 and October 31 of 2021, a total of 312 passports were “proven lost,” compared to a total of 111 for the year of 2020.
The number for 2018 will be verified next month, although losses are still more than the 168 passports lost in 2019, before Covid.
According to the Telegraph, insufficient staff numbers at the Passport Office are causing’misery’ to visitors.
Long delays in getting travel documents have ruined many families’ visits.